Tour Guiding

It's Easter week and my parents and nephew are in town to celebrate with me! Our treks so far have taken us to:

The Santa Marinella Beach



Down by the rocks



The Pantheon



To many a pizzeria



Many a church



The Trevi Fountain



And of course, St. Peter's.



I have assumed the position of paparazzi for my nephew. It's not such a bad job. More to come later!

In His presence, with the word "Hosannah"

If I could choose only one week out of my entire life to be in Rome, I would choose Holy Week. It contains the indescribably beautiful sense that arises when you turn your eyes to look at the Cross and Corpus you commemorate - and then turn to see the Pope, the Cardinals, Bishops, Priests and Nuns gathered together around Him. When you afterwards turn inside yourself with eyes closed, and join in prayer with the congregation of thousands surrounding you, pilgrims from every nook and cranny of the globe.

You know, then, in a very concrete way, that your Faith is not something abstract for you to spout out allegiance to and then forget. It is a something that demands to be lived. As the Holy Father has emphasized repeatedly throughout his pontificate, Christ is a person to be known. And you know that you are willing, with your mind and your heart gathered with those fellow thousands, to follow that call.



There is something intensely meaningful and necessary in the physical participation of the rituals of our Faith. It isn't about what you get from it. It's not about trying to rack up Grace Points or Purgatory Exemptions for yourself through the Give-A-Little-to-God Slot Machine. It's about the love. The love that is shown from placing yourself in God's presence - with the boredom and distractions that come with it. It's about sacrificing the thought of "What I Could Be Doing," and trusting that God is at work upon you. And it's about the sense of identity and commitment that arises when you do consciously yourself as a participant in the mysteries.



The Mass at Saint Peter's for Palm Sunday was one of such experiences. From the moment the first palm-bearers started processing up to the obelisk, followed by a stream of red cardinals and culminating in the arrival of the Holy Father, you received a profound sense that you were participating in something very beautiful, very sacred - and very necessary.


Pope Benedict XVI received a fair amount of media attention after the Palm Sunday liturgy, due to his strong words denouncing the kidnap and murder of the Chaldean Archbishop in Iraq Paulos Faraj Rahho. His words were as follows:

"At the end of this solemn celebration in which we have meditated on Christ's Passion, I would like to recall the late Chaldean archbishop of Mosul, Monsignor Paulos Faraj Rahho, who tragically died a few days ago. His beautiful witness of fidelity to Christ, to the Church and his people, whom he did not want to abandon despite numerous threats, moves me to cry out forcefully and with distress: Enough with the bloodshed, enough with the violence, enough with the hatred in Iraq! And at the same time I make an appeal to the Iraqi people, who for five years have endured the consequences of a war that has provoked upheaval in its civil and social life: Beloved Iraqi people, lift up your heads and let it be you yourselves who, in the first place, rebuild your national life! May reconciliation, forgiveness, justice and respect for the civil coexistence of tribes, ethnic groups and religious groups be the solidary way to peace in the name of God"

The powerful emotion that carried these words was staggering. The media - Associated Press and Brietbart, among others - were quick to pounce on his address and say that the Pope denounced the War in Iraq again. To my understanding, it was less of a denouncement than an appeal to the Iraqis to congregate, focus, and work to end the violence of radical extremists - the ones who are continuing the bloodshed.

I'm posting a link this video clip - not so much for the coverage, but for a taste of the incredible music and the beautiful aerial shot of the Vatican during the Mass. The music was truly sublime. Buzz has it that music is better when the Sistine Chapel Chior isn't singing. Ouch.

Pope: 'Enough with the Violence' in Iraq

And finally, a link to the Papal Homily for Palm Sunday, "To Recognize God We Must Abandon the Pride that Blinds Us," compliments of the fantastic Catholic news-service Zenit. If you don't receive them in your inbox every day, sign up!

Papal Homily for Palm Sunday

Best lines:

"As Christians, all of this must make us think today: Is our faith pure and open enough that, beginning from it, the "pagans" -- the persons today who are seeking and have their questions -- can also intuit the light of the one God, can associate themselves with our prayer in the atriums of faith and by their seeking perhaps become worshippers? Does the awareness that greed is idolatry also reach our heart and our life practices? Do we not perhaps also allow idols to enter even into the world of our faith? Are we disposed to let the Lord purify us again and again, allowing him to chase out of us and the Church what is contrary to him?"

and

"But, as always from the fall of Adam, the failure of men becomes an occasion for a still greater commitment on the part of God's love in regard to us."

Didja know? Catholic stats and other such stuff

So.

One minute ago I sent in my fifteen page Research Project, known throughout the Santa Croce communication halls as the dreaded "Ricerca." (Ree.Cherk.Ah.) It wasn't pretty. It wasn't the best. But it's done. We had to look up a ton of data for the Pope's upcoming visit to the United States. Some of it was absolutely fascinating.

For instance, did you have any idea that Catholics constitute 23.9% of the United States Population? Or that roughly 10% of all Americans are former Catholics? That's sad, considering that 31% of Americans were raised in the Catholic Faith.

Some other interesting tidbits:

41% of American Catholics are aged 30-49.
58% are married
61% have no children at home
There were 58,632 priests in 1965; in 2005, there were 42,528.
There were 8,325 graduate-level seminarians in 1965; in 2005, there were 3,308

81% of Americans believe in Heaven, but only 69% believe in Hell.

Virginia's population is 14% Catholic; New York's is 39%; New Jersey is at 42%.

USA Today has the highest circulation in the United States, followed by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

So that's it: I'm done! Easter break has officially started for me, starting NOW. The parents and one of the awesomest nephews in the world will be arriving here for Holy Week (Santa Settimana) on Wednesday. In between planning tour routes and buying groceries, I'm planning on reminding myself what Rome feels like without a bookbag on my shoulder. A presto - until the next post!

And I thought Italian was hard

There's nothing like returning to your roots. Through an odd set of links, I just stumbled upon a translation of the Bible into Maltese:

Maltese Bible


I think the mere book titles should be enough to give you a flavor. Brave souls can venture deeper. I only wish I could say I can read it!

Real Deal: Skiing in Aosta

Ok, folks, the teasing time is over! Father Avram just uploaded 57 beautiful photos of our ski/snowboarding trip to Facebook, and I've happily stolen a few:

Us with the view:


A typical scene as we flew down the mountain. Notice the little dot-like things at the bottom on the hill? That's Aosta.



What Aosta looks like at a slightly lower altitude:



Us again, at the top of the insanely curvy "intermediate" hill.



Nicole, the greatest trooper ever!



More view.





Our lovely hostess Umbretta, second only to my mom as the greatest cook in the world:


Fr. Avram, me and Nicole:

Dolomites Teaser

Thanks to an invite from one of the coolest priests ever, I spent the weekend skiing here:

Aosta, Northern Italy

Find the highest peak, then look at the 2 to the right of it. Yep: we were there!

Check out the picture on the ski resort's website for the view we had while tumbling down the mountain:

Pila Snow Resort

We stayed in a lovely house down in the valley, built with interior white stucco walls and heavy dark wooden beams. Our hostess was literally the best cook I've met in my life! Personal photos coming soon!